Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is widely and increasingly used in integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing as a method of removing material to enable the planarization of a surface of the IC. This planarization may enable accurate photolithography or improve other IC processing steps. In order to remove and planarize material, the CMP process is performed by providing a force from backside of a workpiece making the other side of the workpieces contacting with a rotating polishing pad in a CMP apparatus or chamber. At least one slurry of abrasive particles or reactive solution is also provided during the CMP process to chemically react with the material(s) on the workpiece surface.
However, a CMP process that is performed on metals has many drawbacks. With the advent of scaling, the problems caused by CMP processes, such as dishing, recess, erosion or CMP non-uniformities, become more detrimental because of the sensitivity of resistance to the thickness of a metal, and thus product yield and performances are affected.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a process to address the above-described inadequacies and shortcomings to improve the results of a CMP process and thus also to improve product yield and product performance.